Dhoke plans army of CCTV cameras in industrial city

Nikhil Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 5

Ludhiana Commissionerate is eyeing close circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in every nook and corner of the city to improve law and order here. Being mulled by Commissioner of Police (CP) RN Dhoke, a special control room set up under the Ludhiana Safe City Project will soon get the live feed of all CCTV cameras installed at residences and commercial establishments to keep tabs on anti-social elements.

Under the Safe City Project, the police have installed around 900 CCTV cameras at strategic places in the city. In the months to come, they are likely to achieve the target of installing a total of 1,400 cameras. All these cameras will be sending live feed to the special control room.

Dhoke, while talking to The Tribune, said the initiative had been planned for better policing and it would help to a great extent in crime prevention and detection. “I conducted a meeting on the issue yesterday where the initiative was discussed in detail. The recently formed police-public foundation has been assigned the task of giving wings to the initiative,” the CP added.

Dhoke said under the Safe City Project, more than 1,400 cameras were to be installed in the city. But if the police control room starts getting live feed of the cameras installed at residences and business establishments too, then there remains no shelter for criminals to hide from this army of cameras.

“All station house officers have been told to collect data about the cameras installed in their respective areas. After this survey, the police-public foundation will explore technical resources to transfer their live feed to the police control room. It is beneficial because if any crime occurs, then the police will not require to visit houses or business places to collect footage. In fact, footage will already be with the police control room,” the Commissioner of Police added.

Pre-emptive measure to tackle religious tension

Under a plan to utilise the non-core police services in a better way, the police-public foundation will hold regular meetings with all religious groups, said Commissioner of Police RN Dhoke. The purpose of the move is to maintain law and order situation through these groups in case of a religious issue. Dhoke also invited private NGOs to lend a helping hand to the police for the betterment of the city. “We will enrol no NGO without verifying its antecedents or background. Only NGOs with clean image will be enrolled,” he added.